Deaf people and Christianity

whatdidyousay! said:
"I think more Deaf people are Christians because they are more in tuned with their spiritual sides." I got it from this!
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I saw that too, but I surmised that the meaning was that RELIGIOUS PEOPLE IN GENERAL are in touch with their spiritual sides, not any specific religion...the word christian was probably used because that was what the original question referred to.
 
Dixie said:
Affirming means gays and homosexuals are allowed full participation in all church functions and activities as well as being in church leadership positions.

Welcoming means the church welcomes gays and homosexuals to their services but they are generally not allowed to have leadership positions.

These typically apply to the United Church of Christ denomination but it can really be applied to various denominations as there are some open and affirming baptist churches that are affiliated more with the ABA rather than the SBC.

You typically find these churches in more metropolitan areas. They are extremely few and far in between in rural settings.
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As far as I know, this congregation does have gays and homosexuals, but here in WPB, they keep themselves very closed up and not out in the iopen, you know. It seems we here in this area are not as open as the midwest in a lot of things.
 
Anij said:
Where I live there are the percentages for religious affiliation is the same for hearing and for Hoh/Deaf. There are more Hoh/Deaf Christians in my area simply because we have a large Christian population in general. I do know Hoh/Deaf who are Jewish, Muslim, Hindi, Agnostic and Atheists as well though ... in similar populations to the hearing in the area.

Generally people follow the faith in which they are raised, so ones parents are practising Christians, it's likely that the children will either be Christians if they are religious.

We have a number of denominations that have ASL Church services, including the RCC Church of the Deaf (ASL is the language used by the priest, readers etc), and a number of non-denominational Churches where ASL is the language of the service. A number of years ago we had a United Church , a Lutheran Church and an Anglican church that also had ASL services. Unfortunately budgets have cut the amount of signed services (other than RCC and non-denominational).

As an Anglican Theology/Seminary Student - it is my hope that we'll be able to once again have an Anglican & Lutheran ASL service available on a weekly basis (where ASL is the language of worship, instead of an English service with ASL interpreters)


I'm not sure if that answers the OP's question or not ?
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i sort of disagree.. i was raised catholic, but i am very opposed to many catholic views.. i feel that people who grow up in overly religious households will many times inevitably rebel against what they were raised with.. i know very few people whose parents are NOT Christian, yet i have very few friends who are Christians.
 
HelloNurse said:
i sort of disagree.. i was raised catholic, but i am very opposed to many catholic views.. i feel that people who grow up in overly religious households will many times inevitably rebel against what they were raised with.. i know very few people whose parents are NOT Christian, yet i have very few friends who are Christians.
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Age has a lot to do with it. As teens and young adults, of course we are going to rebel against our parent's beliefs....but, as we get older, we may take a second look at all of the things we abolished, and many people go back to the church or at least make a decision not based solely on rebellion.
 
I find it kind of ironic and funny. My maternal grandfather was a preacher in the First Christian Church/Disciples of Christ. being "PK's" my mother and her 2 brothers had to be at every service. When mom married, she converted to Episcopal. Dad had been Catholic and mom wouldn't go that far. My one uncle became a Quaker and the other is now a Methodist. Now, I mentioned that Dad was Catholic. HE and his brother were raised as Catholic. He went Episcopal (1 step down they say) and his brother went Lutheran to join with his wife. My 2 brother's and I were brought up Episcopal and I stayed until I married and am now returning to the Episcopal. My oldest brother went for 20+ years with no church at all, but still believing. He is now within the last 5-8 years going to a Methodist church. His wife was brought up Baptist. My other brother felt so smothered by church and it "rules and restrictions" that he really rebelled. He still does not attend church and hasn't since 1980. His wife was raised Baptist, but has not gone to church since her father died when she was 15. She still blames G*D for that. My kids were raised mainly Church of God with some Assembly of God. We had issues and daughter was thrown out of so many churches since they could not handle her learning disabilities and such. (She had severe separation anxiety disorder). She refuses to go back to church due to the treatment she got. She does believe and we do Bible lessons with her at home and she is happy. Son on the other hand was all prepared to declare himself to being a future preacher. After seeing what his sister went through, he was totally disillusioned and has since changed his mind. He believes, but still is not happy in church. He will ask questions of the Pastor, but they will not give him answers that satisfy him and when he asks for proof or documentation, they say that he wouldn't understand. This is not acceptable to me. At 15, he is very intelligent and can understand whatever they dish out, but they can't satisfy his thirst for knowledge. He resorts to online searches or digging into the volumes I have from my grandfather's theology lesson and schooling. When one of the teens asked the pastor a question, pastor said it wasn't important, but my son sat down with that teen, opened up his bible and proceeded to answer, with bibles verses to the teens satisfaction. Son has also been able to do it with adults who have taken courses. Then he will ask the pastor and is told he is too young to be thinking these things. That's why I don't push my kids to going to this church any longer. I will let them continue at home. It may not be the most practical or logical, but I will NOT have a so-called pastor making my son believe that he is not important enough to ask questions and expect and educated answer.
 
KristinaB said:
As far as I know, this congregation does have gays and homosexuals, but here in WPB, they keep themselves very closed up and not out in the iopen, you know. It seems we here in this area are not as open as the midwest in a lot of things.
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I would have guessed that in WPB they would be very open about it, more so than here in Arkansas. I will go tonight despite the winter storm warnings (don't wanna lose dyke points now do we??) and see about it, but there is also the chance that the congregation sissies out or my friend sissies out. I will call before I leave though. I've been waiting for a while to find a church like this in my area. I'm curious as to what they are like but I am also careful of false doctrine. If something doesn't feel right I don't go there.
 
I went to my friend's church last night and we found out in the middle of the sermon that the church is neither welcoming or affirming. I asked her if the pastor had spoke on the topic before and she replied no. She said a guy came to her work and they got on the topic of gay churches and the guy said he went to this church and he asked a girl out. The girl told the guy she had a girlfriend. I told her it sounded like the girl filled the guy head with a load of crap or the guy was filling you with a load of crap. It was a nice church. It was extremely contemporary but however it is an hour's drive so I doubt I will make it my church home, but I will commend them on their nice facilities and very relaxed setting. The church has a website, PM me if your curious.
 
When you are deaf ...How do you attened church

The church i was going to doesnt have sign language person, also, If you are jsut learnig signs how do you comunicate with others that arent.. Its very hard... I get really depressed....
 
Dixie said:
I would have guessed that in WPB they would be very open about it, more so than here in Arkansas. I will go tonight despite the winter storm warnings (don't wanna lose dyke points now do we??) and see about it, but there is also the chance that the congregation sissies out or my friend sissies out. I will call before I leave though. I've been waiting for a while to find a church like this in my area. I'm curious as to what they are like but I am also careful of false doctrine. If something doesn't feel right I don't go there.
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Florida is a strange state. We're not as liberal as you may think. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that the state attracts a lot of older, retired people? That's a guess, but, I can't think of any other reason. We're also in the South. However, we're not necessarily embedded in the Bible belt like you are there in Arkansas. But, yeah... With the exception of where I am, I don't think Florida is very gay friendly. I could be wrong, though.
 
I dunno- I do see what you mean tho. It seems like if my freinds have a religion then the percentagee is higher then 60%. the rest is a mix- jews, mormons, baptists, catholics.
Then I consider my other friends- they seem to have NO opinion at all.
 
I don't just live in the bible belt, I live in the Baptist Belt! :lol:

We have like 5 different kinds of Baptist churches just in my small town alone.

Freewill Baptist
American Baptist
Southern Baptist
Black Baptist
Calvary Baptist

:dizzy:

But there are tons more of churches in my town:
Methodist
Black Methodist
Pentecostal
Seventh Day Adventist
Mormon
Jehovah's Kingdom
Baptist (these include the aforementioned)
Church of Christ
Assembly of God
Catholic (2 that I know of)
New Life Outreach
La Vida Nueva Christiana
and a bunch of smaller non-denominational churches that are actually located in houses rather than in church buildings. One is located in the back of a Mercado that has a congregation of about 25.

Lot of churches, no reason why anyone should go to Hell. :lol:
 
Dixie said:
I don't just live in the bible belt, I live in the Baptist Belt! :lol:

We have like 5 different kinds of Baptist churches just in my small town alone.

Freewill Baptist
American Baptist
Southern Baptist
Black Baptist
Calvary Baptist
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No independent Baptist churches?
 
Reba said:
No independent Baptist churches?
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Possibly. I may have overlooked a few. Doing a Google check to make sure.

Finished the search, there is an Independent Baptist church named "Grace Baptist Church" about 30 minutes east of my town.

I did some more research:
24.99% of the state population is Southern Baptist.
There is also a decline nationwide of people who consider themselves Southern Baptist:
In 1993 10% of all Americans considered themselves Southern Baptist
In 2001 only 6% of all Americans consider themselves Southern Baptist.

I do believe the Southern Baptist Convention is on the decline.
 
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dogmom said:
I didn't know there were so many different kinds of Baptists.
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Yes there is many different kinds of Baptists and each of them vary on doctrine.

Ex: Southern Baptist believe that once saved always saved.
Freewill Baptist believe you can lose your salvation.

The ABA differs from the SBC on ordaining women as ministers. Far as I know any SBC-affiliated church that ordained a woman as a minister was often thrown out of the SBC. Some types of Baptist churches welcome gay members while others don't.

But however the one thing that is typical among Baptist churches is in the immersion at Baptism whereas other denominations often just sprinkle water on you. The immersion is a metaphor of the old person dying and the new person rising or some say is a metaphor of a spiritual cleansing.

But I've noticed many SBC affiliated churches splitting and breaking away from the SBC entirely. This is the beginning of the end of the SBC I am afraid as it is the second largest Christian denomination in America behind Catholicism. I see more Non-Denominational churches becoming popular such as "The Journey".
 
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